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See the original image at livescience.com

Fire ants play dead ... except for "cranky old ladies"

livescience.com — FTA: "No one has ever reported this before, and it was a big shock to me," said Deby Cassill, an evolutionary biologist at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. "Ants from an attacking colony will come up to inspect them, and they'll be curled up just like a dead ant. Then moments later they uncurl and walk away."

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 14, 2008

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54 Comments

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  • Shadowgamers, on 04/14/2008, -0/+25Did you play dead?
  • dazparkour, on 04/14/2008, -0/+22The server is playing dead to avoid being attacked by the digg effect.
  • aceakm, on 04/14/2008, -2/+19I almost died as a kid because Fire Ants swarmed my entire body when I was at the race track. :-
  • inactive, on 04/14/2008, -0/+13Did your horse win?
  • crapmatic, on 04/14/2008, -1/+11I'm convinced that in a million years, the only thing left will be roaches and fire ants. I wonder who will win the final battle for world domination.
  • Murdats, on 04/14/2008, -0/+10the meteor
  • nahsrocketeer75, on 04/14/2008, -0/+9Fire ants must be attacking the LiveScience servers.
  • cyberscape2, on 04/14/2008, -0/+8Did strangers on the internet make ambiguous references to your condition?
  • yohnstoppable, on 04/14/2008, -0/+7Well the good news after reading your post is that ravenous birds pecking my eyes out is not longer my #1 fear :(
  • eviljolly, on 04/14/2008, -0/+7Strange, I walked away and the page loaded.
  • rulezgetbent, on 04/14/2008, -0/+5yes, because roaches could not survive until there were humans on the planet.
  • aceakm, on 04/14/2008, -1/+5Yes. :(
  • phybere, on 04/14/2008, -5/+9Chuck Norris.
  • aceakm, on 04/14/2008, -1/+5No, I screamed and cried.
  • Darthmalt, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3No a hammer usually takes care of them pretty well.
  • RSnote, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3"Cassill and her students also noticed that as the ants age — some live six months to a year — they grow out of the curious behavior. Middle-aged ants tend to flee, while the eldest are aggressive and attack furiously."

    The older we get the angrier we get? If ants mimicked humans, the younger ants would be angriest, the middle-aged ones would flee, and the senior ants would be wondering why they were still working.
  • Photokon, on 04/14/2008, -2/+4rick roll is no longer funny
  • chanop, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2bad comment, with bad content
  • mckinnej, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Ummm, checked out any of those Amazon rain forest bugs lately? There be tons of cockroaches in there with no humans in sight.
  • antdude, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2There's an image. Here you go: http://www.chrisruzin.net/images/uploads/deadfirea ...
  • staffa, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Yes, there are many kinds and no, none of them are the "opposite" of evolutionary biologist.

    More like Marine biologist etc.
  • Klarth, on 04/14/2008, -2/+4Did you lose your mouth?
  • aceakm, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2I was like 5.
  • VINLANDER, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2They don't want their insect rights abused!
  • CaptEnder, on 04/14/2008, -2/+3Fire ants...didn't you read "Ender's Game"? They become the buggers!
  • Icelightning, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Livescience is definitely playing dead, yes. You just have to look away for a minute, and it'll load, like eviljolly said.
  • Viti, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Rofl.
  • lionelmandrake, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2And I for one, welcome our new ant overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted RAF officer, I can be useful in helping round up other humans, to toil in their underground sugar caves.
  • squelart, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2"evolutionary biologist" -- Can there be any other kind?
  • StaticThunder, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1In the grim world of crapmatic, there is only war!
  • HoldenDapen0r, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1http://www.duggmirror.com/
  • tamareesoeres, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1CNN ruined it forever........
  • cHEM, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1Actually, without the waste and warm habitats provided by Humans, roaches won't actually thrive for that long (nor rats). read "The World Without us" by Alan Weisman.. its an amazing (theoretical) study into what would happen to the world we know if humans were to disappear.
  • Black6x, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0It's an Olympic sport now, don't you know.
  • mali1, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1I had a nightmare once, where ants crawled inside my penis...
  • dazparkour, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1Bush single handedly disproved that theory.

    We are going with Semi-Intelligent Design these days.
  • dragis101, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1If it kills these *****...
    Good.
  • daschupa, on 04/14/2008, -0/+0I didn't even know ants could curl.
  • lolben, on 04/14/2008, -0/+0gotta keep their guns big for the queen, duhh
  • Black6x, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0So, no?
  • leerayIG88, on 04/14/2008, -2/+1nom nom nom
  • cerejota, on 04/14/2008, -3/+2But, but, but, Eevolution is just a theory...

    [/sarcam]
  • aceakm, on 04/14/2008, -3/+2Are you a $cientologist?
  • ithejosh, on 04/14/2008, -3/+1Ants are probably the most interesting insects.
    Although i do fear them, as a kid I had a huge swarm on me.. twice. I HATE FIRE ANTS ***** ATAKSJLASLJ
    /endrant
  • troon, on 04/14/2008, -4/+2I remember trying to get rid of ants in our kitchen with one of those piezo cooker hob lighter things with the guard off to expose the prongs. A quick zap got the ants, instantly shrivelling them. A nice humane method, I thought - except they got up and walked away a few minutes later as though nothing had happened. Hard as nails...
  • Shadowgamers, on 04/14/2008, -3/+1"Sir! There's a problem with the line!"
    "What is it 'son?"
    "It... It looks like... FIRE ANTS D:"
  • amitsavyon, on 04/14/2008, -4/+0:)
  • dragis101, on 04/14/2008, -5/+0Man...look at that red menace

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

    Now that's some scary *****.
  • inactive, on 04/14/2008, -6/+1wow...too long to load Rocket man.
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